Hey guys so I got a few quotes for insurance one has CCC included and one dosent. One policy is $620 and the other is 1100. My question is im just now starting my business, and I have a lot of start up costs obviously ( LLC cost, equipment cost,etc) Considering I’m just starting up and also need to spend some money on business cards and marketing and advertising should I go with the cheaper plan or spend the extra money and get the CCC coverage along with the piece of mind? I have no customers at the moment and I would be concentrating mostly store fronts for right now. So what do you think? Is it necessary?
Some will disagree with me on this, but in your scenario I would “go cheap” on the insurance for now_. You’re probably not going to break anything at a storefront job. If you do, it will be so small and inexpensive that it would just make more sense to pay for it out of pocket rather than filing an insurance claim. Don’t go near neon signs. They have a way of breaking if you just look at them wrong. Get a waiver signed if you need to scrape anything. Wipe up any water on the interior and don’t leave your bucket where some ambulance chaser will “trip” over it. There’s virtually zero chance of anything going wrong at a storefront job if you just exercise a little common sense.
Once you start taking on bigger jobs like residential, commercial buildings, etc. you should get the “good insurance”. Over time, you’re inevitably going to break some screens, storm windows, or knock over a few lamps. That’s not what insurance is for, it’s for the one in a billion chance a 32 foot ladder tips over onto someone’s Ferrari.
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If you notice you will be working around anything breakable, no harm in asking the owner to please move it ahead you cleaning.
The cheaper insurance is the way to go IMO just starting out.
After 8 years I only needed it once working on a lawyers property for a broken spigot that I didn’t even break, and the insurance company never came to me for my deductible, so who knows if it ever even went through.
Anyway, insurance is for big stuff - DON’T BREAK ANYTHING BIG - either with or without insurance. 
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For your consideration.
Why do I need Care, Custody & Control or Voluntary Property Damage Insurance Coverage?
General Liability Insurance coverage is very broad, in fact it covers your premises, your products, your operation and your personal and advertising injury. But it still does not cover everything.
There are two types of claims that most of our clients, assume are covered by a basic general liability insurance policy which are not covered. Care, custody & control and Voluntary property damage coverage are not covered by unendorsed general liability insurance policy. The names of these coverages seem difficult to understand, so I’ll explain why your business needs these coverages.
A general liability insurance policy excludes personal property that is in your care, custody and control, including something that you are working on. In insurance this issue of care, custody & control frequently arises. Let’s examine what these terms mean. Care generally means to have “temporary charge of”, custody means “to keep or guard” and control means that it is “within your power to manage, or oversee”. For those that have large exposures; you may need items like Bailee coverage or warehouseman’s liability or garage keeper’s coverage. But, if the care, custody & control exposure is incidental to your business it can generally be purchased as an additional coverage to the liability insurance policy. One limitation of the care, custody & control coverage on the general liability policy is that you must be legally liable should you cause damage to personal property.
Let me give you some examples on how care, custody and control could apply to your business:
• Janitorial Company: You are cleaning your customer’s home and you are dusting the 60” television that is hung on the wall. In doing so it moves and comes of the bracket, falls to the floor and breaks. This would not be covered without care, custody & control endorsement.
• Contractor: While coming out to the client’s home to paint or do contracting work, they left a table in the way of your work area. You pick the table up to move it and in doing so you break a leg off the table. The damage to the table would not be covered without care, custody & control coverage.
• IT Firm: You are at the client’s business and you are working on their laptop. You get up and the cord is caught and the laptop crashes to the floor and is damaged. The damage to the laptop would not be covered without care, custody & control coverage.
Generally care, custody and control coverage is limited to a specific dollar amount, so talk to us to determine which coverage amount would be appropriate for you.
The second coverage that I would like to discuss is voluntary property damage or some carriers will refer to it as extended property damage or real property damage.
This is similar to care, custody & control but rather than paying for damage to personal property, voluntary property damage applies to damage to real property. This coverage provides unintentional damage to the real property of others.
Let me explain to you how this coverage could apply:
• Power washing company: You are hired to wash the exterior of an office building. In the progress of washing the building the nozzle comes lose and goes through the building window… The glass damage would not be covered unless you have voluntary property damage coverage
• HVAC Contractor: You are drilling holes in the hardwood floor to install a new HVAC system, the drill slips and damages the hardwood floor. The damage to the hardwood floor would not be covered unless you have voluntary property damage coverage.
• Janitorial Company: You have been hired to clean the client’s home and in doing so your vacuum cleaner scratches their hardwood floors. Since you were hired to clean the floors this would not be covered unless you had voluntary property damage.
• Painting Contractor: You were hired to paint a wall and in doing so your ladder damages the wall. This would not be covered without voluntary property damage.
Just like with the care, custody & control insurance coverage there is a limit of coverage provided with the endorsement. It is always best to discuss with your agent what limit would be the most appropriate for your business. Another way to get broader voluntary property coverage is to purchase contractor’s errors and omissions insurance coverage which is designed to cover your work. Call your agent to discuss how this coverage could work for you.
Many times claims are paid or denied because of the existence or non-existence of these important coverages. The cost for these coverages is only a few hundred dollars per year, but without them you are leaving huge holes in your liability insurance protection
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Wizard: I totally understand the Importance of having a CCC clause added to your GL insurance. However for me, a new business with zero current customers and a lot of up front start up costs is it actually necessary/ needed ? Once I get a few customers and start making money I have no problem adding it but for right now should I save the 500+ dollars or am I just trying to cheap out and play it dumb. Im asking you fellow business owners what you would do and with me just sticking with route work and store fronts right now how much liability is there?
my 2 cents: if you’re just doing mostly store fronts for now… i wouldn’t get the insurance. when you start lining up several houses, i’d get it then…with that being said… you’re going to miss out on getting some jobs if you don’t have insurance.
Most of my big accounts (multiple chains and schools) required insurance. if you do anticipate going after big accounts, go with the cheap insurance for now.
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We started with a basic GL policy. About 6 months later we switched companies and got a policy with CCC. We mainly do residential.
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I also started with a basic gl policy and just switched to one with CCC last week. Thing is, i had no clue what CCC was before that. It’s hard to give advice either way though. When you need it, you need it. If you need it and don’t have it, then $500 will be the least of your worries. Then again, with your business being new, if you get sued for all your assets, you don’t have much to lose anyway (assuming you are an LLC; otherwise, everything you own could potentially be on the line if something happens).
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Very important - more so than what level of insurance do you carry.
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If it helps, i got nationwide wth Ccc and its a pretty good plan, good price. Give Brendon a call: 515-864-2201.
Tell him www.TeamSqueegee.com sent you. (I dont get anything)
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So do you think I would be ok at first only having GL and than adding CCC coverage as soon as I could? Again I would be concentrating on store fronts for right now?
Perhaps some may think it a gamble, but window cleaning isn’t THAT big of a risk profession (high rise excluded).
I do not carry CCC and I make bank every week.
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So do you think I would be ok at first only having GL and than adding CCC coverage as soon as I could? Again I would be concentrating on store fronts for right now?
…Yeah you will be fine, Save the extra money and use it on good equipment or business cards etc.
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I just got a quote from a local Insurance company in my area…Coverage of 1 Million occurrence, 2 Million Aggregate…with CCC coverage of $1,000.00…The yearly quote was $540.00
How does this compare with hat else is out there? and…is $1,000.00 enough CCC coverage…truthfully,I am concentrating on Commercial to start with very little Residential right now. I’ll do residential, but won’t take big jobs until I am more established.
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For a bit over double that I’m getting 25k of CCC.
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HI folks,
everyone is talking about insurance but no one reveals what company they use.
Can you share your ins. company (with CCC)? I’m small guy, one person company (for now) doing house cleaning as well.
I’ve tried well known JDW and they came up with $3k plan, and without payments!! They said it is California $.
Too much for small company.
Who else is out there?
So I originally wrote this post a few months ago when I was getting quotes and in the planning phase. Now that I’m actually going to go for it, ide like to hear from some more people as what they would do. I normally like to play it safe and get all the coverage I can get just incase/ piece of mind. However ide really
Rather save that extra 600 and spend it elsewhere. What would you guys do? Again concentrating mostly on storefronts and small commercial.
Thanks
Brian
If you are doing storefront only, I wouldn’t worry about it personally. That is, unless your state requires it. Or if you have a customer that requires some type of coverage.
If you start to do residential on a consistent basis, different story. Then you probably need something.
I don’t worry about damaging anything in the house too much. And if I broke a window, then I would fix it out of pocket anyways. But I’m always afraid of having a ladder fall on a Lexus or Jag. That I couldn’t begin to cover.
Rich
Well I definitely getting insurance regardless. The question is weather just GL will be sufficient for now or weather I need CCC coverage also
Do you plan on using a razor?
